In the old days, Bay Area accountant Beth Terry would ask the clerk at the grocery store to double-bag her food.

Extra plastic bags were good for lining trash cans at home.

"I would roll my eyes at Berkeley people carrying their own bags to the store," she said.

Then, while Terry was recovering from a 2007 surgery, she stumbled onto astonishing online images of plastic pollution in our environment - most disturbingly, a seabird whose skeletal cavity was filled with plastic waste.

The next day, she began cataloguing every plastic item she used in her house. Spoons, wrappers, cups, trays, even strips of tape.

And Terry pledged to live a plastic-free life.

Turns out that's pretty tough. She soon realized just how pervasive plastic was.

Terry used 3.5 pounds of household plastic that first month. Now she's down to about 2 pounds per year - including some pretty basic necessities, such as prescription medication bottles and credit cards.

"I decided I wanted to use myself as an example, just to see what all the possibilities are," she said. "People don't realize they have options. I feel like my job is to let them know about all the choices they have, and to encourage them."

She'll do just that Friday, speaking at the Oak Grove Nature Center at Oak Grove Regional Park. The public is invited.

Terry's mission led her to start a blog, myplasticfreelife.com, and to write a book, "Plastic-Free: How I kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too." She writes about her concerns over plastic pollution and toxicity, while sharing tips about reducing consumption.

That's the creative part.

When the plastic foam cushions on her headphones wore off, Terry crocheted new ones.

She refused straws in restaurants, and spoons in ice cream shops.

She learned how to store food without plastic bags and how to make her own hand soap so she was no longer forced to buy the plastic containers.

She became distressed over junk mail, with the little plastic linings over the windows of the envelopes.

Obsessive? Maybe.

But Terry isn't here to preach or make anyone feel guilty, she says. She's as hopeful that people will get involved pushing for new plastic-pollution policies as she is that they will stop using individual ketchup packets (though she'd like to see that, too).

"One year at Christmas, my sister called and said, 'Beth, I'm paralyzed because I got your Christmas present and I can't do anything about the tape - what do you want me to do? She was practically in tears," Terry said.

"I thought, 'This is not what this project is about. It's not about making people freaked out or anxious or alienating people I love. I'm doing this out of love for the planet and the people.'

"So I told her, 'Send whatever you have. I love you.' "

The comments Terry has received since starting her plastic-free quest inspire her to keep going.

"It's fantastic, but there's still so many people to talk to," she said.